Realism of Fears and Children's Animistic Thinking Emilla Lee Tschanz Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1971 Realism of fears and children's animistic thinking Emilla Lee Tschanz Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Home Economics Commons Recommended Citation Tschanz, Emilla Lee, "Realism of fears and children's animistic thinking " (1971). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 4594. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/4594 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 72-12,605 TSCHANZ, Emilia Lee, 1925- REALISM OF FEARS AND CHILDREN'S ANIMISTIC THINKING. Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1971 Home Economics University Microfilms, A XERQKCompany, Ann Arbor, Michigan DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED Realism of fears and children's animistic thinking by Emilia Lee Tschanz A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Subject: Child Development Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. i/For the Major Department Signature was redacted for privacy. Fow ti)eiGraduate College Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1971 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 Importance of the Problem 1 Theoretical Framework 10 Statement of the Problem 15 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 18 The Nature of Observed Fears in Children , 18 The Nature of Reported Fears in Children 22 Piaget's Theory of Animism 35 Attempts to Standardize and Amplify Piaget's Work on Animism 38 Criticisms of Piaget's Theory of Animism 48 The Relationship between Fear and Intelligence 55 METHODS AND PROCEDURES 59 Subjects 59 Measuring Instruments 61 Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 61 Jersild's Fears Interview 62 Animism Test 64 Pilot Study 68 Modification of Jersild's Fears Interview 69 Training of fear judges 70 Training of animism judges 73 Procedures 75 Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 76 Fears Interview 76 Animism Test: the Laurendeau and Pinard standardized procedure 77 Judging 78 Fears 78 Animism 79 Analysis of Data 80 iii Page RESULTS 82 Major Findings 82 Ancillary Findings 91 Descriptive Analysis of the Fears 92 DISCUSSION 100 Developmental Pattern of Thought Processes 100 Realism of Fear 104 The Relationship of Fears, Measures of Intellectual Performance, and Developmental Aspects of Fears 108 Educational Implications 114 Limitations of the Study 116 Suggestions for Further Research 117 SUMMARY 120 LITERATURE CITED 125 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 133 APPENDIX A. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SUBJECT'S BACKGROUND INFORMATION 135 APPENDIX B. MANUAL FOR THE JUDGING OF CHILDREN'S FEARS 137 APPENDIX C. SCORE SHEET OF FEARS FROM PILOT STUDY FOR TRAINING FEAR JUDGES 141 APPENDIX D. RATING SCALE ON REALISM OF CHILDREN'S FEARS 143 APPENDIX E. PROCEDURAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ANIMISM JUDGES 150 APPENDIX F. FEARS INTERVIEW RECORDING FORM 152 APPENDIX G. ANIMISM TEST RECORDING FORM 154 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Correlation matrix of chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, and realism of fear 83 2. Regression analysis of Probability of Occurrence on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of reported fears and number of animistic errors 84 3. Regression analysis of Probability of Encounter on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of reported fears and number of animistic errors 85 4. Regression analysis of Probability of Harm on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of reported fears and number of animistic errors 86 5. Regression analysis of Composite Realism Score on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of reported fears and number of animistic errors 86 6. Estimated coefficients in the regression of Probability of Occurrence on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of fears, and number of animistic errors 87 7. Estimated coefficients in the regression of Probability of Encounter on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of fears and number of animistic errors 88 8. Estimated coefficients in the regression of Probability of Harm on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of fears and number of animistic errors 88 V Page 9. Estimated coefficients in the regression of Composite Realism Score on chronological age, mental age, sex, animism score, number of fears and number of animistic errors 89 10. Percent of reported fears in each category 93 11. Rank order of the percent of fears reported in each category 98 1 INTRODUCTION Importance of the Problem There are many unanswered questions concerning the role of fears in the development of children. With our concern about mental health in our society at this time, it seems advantageous to study children's fears. Of considerable interest are both the nature of fear and the processes by which fear develops. There is a possibility, as Freud suggests, that fears may be related to poor mental health: .... It cannot be overlooked that children are not all equally ap prehensive, and that the very children who are more than usually timid in the face of all kinds of objects and situations are those who later on become neurotic. The neurotic disposition is therefore betrayed, amongst other signs, by a marked tendency to object anxiety (1935, p. 352). Jersild and Holmes (1935) found when they studied fears remembered by adults from their childhood that many fears persist from childhood to adulthood. Some fears can be extremely handicapping to adult functioning. From a different point of view, it can be seen that fears in certain situations are important to man's survival. Ausubel (1958) distinguishes at least three functions of fear for the individual: to serve as protec tion, to motivate, and to socialize. Children have fears that are re actions of objective anxiety to perception of external danger (Freud, 1935). For example, fear of speeding cars, of being burned by hot objects, and of being picked up by strangers may be important to children's safety. Very young children, however, often overestimate their powers and behave without fear because they do not recognize danger. They need to be 2 protected from their fearless explorations. Fears may serve to motivate children. Many students of motivation hold the view that human drives are learned in the socialization process. Such acquired drives as identification, aggression, and dependency are learned (Sears al. 1953; Bandura and Walter, 1959; Burton et al. 1961; Walters and Ray, 1960). Brown (1953) has proposed that a motiva tional component of many of these acquired drives may be a learned tendency to be anxious in the absence of certain goal objects such as affection. Anxiety has been found to have an effect on learning. Some variables influencing whether or not the effect is facilitating or interfering are the nature of the task (Sarason, 1960), whether or not stress is present (Sarason, 1960; Taylor, 1956; Vogel et. fl- 1959), and if present whether or not the stress threatens the ego (Sarason, 1960; Taylor, 1956); past history of success, intrinsic motivation (Vogel et 1959), and sex of the subject (Hartup, 1958). Fears may serve as socializing agents. According to social learning theory, anxiety-reduction is central in the socialization process. Fear of punishment may be involved in a child's learning to resist temptation. Reward or punishment serves as reinforcement or inhibition of behavior if the reward or punishment is consistently given. This discipline technique does not, however, result in internalization of standards. Burton ££ al. (1961) proposes the hypothesis that as children grow olde:r, cognitive techniques of socialization (e.g. explanation) may be more effective. There are certain behavioral correlates of fear. Children learn de pendency through reward and punishment (Sears et al. 1953). When 3 iiiirLurniicc is Inokiii}' or inadcqiintc, n cln Id lu-ciiim-s I riisC rntzcd ;incl anxious- Anxiety serves as a drive resulting in dependent behavior (Bandura and Walters, 1959; Hartup, 1958; Sears e^ 1953). The re lationship between punishment and dependency is curvilinear i.e., moderate punishment results in more dependency behavior than either less severe or more severe punishment. Boys become more dependent while girls become less dependent as a result of severity of punishment (Sears et^ al_. 1953; Bandura and Walters, 1959). One possible explanation for the sex dif ference is seen in the girl's stronger identification with the mother. Punishment from the mother, therefore, seems more severe to the girl than to the boy and causes the girl to inhibit dependency behavior. Similarly, aggression results when nurturance needs of a child are not met and he is punished for dependency (Bandura and Walters, 1959). Punish ment of aggression causes a child to become frustrated and anxious about aggressive feelings. The relation of punishment to aggression is curvi linear and sex-related. When aggressive behavior is inhibited because of anticipated punishment, aggressive drive is maintained. Studies of doll- play and severely punished children show that the children still reflect aggressive tendencies (Sears ejt al. 1953). An extremely fixated orientation to social and perceptual stimuli is often a sign of anxiety. Too much emotional conflict may result in in tolerance of cognitive ambiguity (Frenkel-Brunswik, 1949). This intol erance of ambiguity is related to prejudice. Smock (1956) found premature closure to be a function of anxiety arousal when stimulus ambiguity was present. He hypothesizes that intolerance of ambiguity arises from anxiety during the socialization process. 4 Sarason et £l. (1960), in reviewing the literature, states that the hypotheHis that anxiety does have some type of interfering effect on in- Lolluctuai performance is justifiable.